| I'm turning my south to west-facing garden, that loses plants due to the heat, into a sitting area for a park bench & stepping "stones" leading from the front sidewalk to the bench.
There's about 1-foot of space on both sides of the bench so I'm going to put/leave plants there & on down to where the "garden" ends.
I'm using tall plants in the back next to the bench, then medium in front of that & short in front of that, & on one side, next to the lawn, I'm thinking of using all groundcover. There'll be plenty of room to enter/exit the "garden" for using the bench.
I'm thinking of using only perennials because having dealt with weed-barrier fabric & rocks before, it's not easy finding holes from previous plants/making holes for new ones amongst the rocks & it's not pretty getting dirt mixed with the lava rock. Does all/only perennials sound fine because of such?
I'm thinking of putting perennial groundcover under the bench. Does that sound okay? Or would it be a bother getting under the bench to prune?
Thanks to all in advance for replying! | 
